At least five people were killed and 11 others wounded, including a governor, in a suicide attack in southwestern Somalia on Tuesday, a police commander said.
Al Qaeda-linked Al-Shabab terrorist group claimed responsibility for the bombing.
“A suicide bomber drove a vehicle loaded with explosives on a guest house in Bardera where government officials were staying,” said Hussein Adan, police commander in this town in the Gedo region located 450 kilometers west of the capital Mogadishu.
Among those officials were the governor of Gedo, Ahmed Bulle Gared, and several military commanders, he added. “The explosion destroyed most of the building and five security officers were killed,” Adan continued, saying 11 others were injured, including the governor, without giving further details on the severity of the injuries.
“We have never heard anything as big as the explosion this morning, it shook the earth like an earthquake,” said Mohamud Saney, a witness.
The Shebab rebels have been fighting the internationally-backed federal government since 2007. Driven out of the country’s main cities in 2011-2012, they remain firmly entrenched in large rural areas. President Hassan Sheikh Mohamoud, who returned to power in May 2022, has promised them “total war”.
But Al-shebab continues to carry out bloody attacks in retaliation, demonstrating their ability to strike at the heart of Somali cities and military installations. On October 29, 2022, two car bombs exploded in Mogadishu, killing 121 people and injuring 333, the deadliest attack in five years in this country also affected by a historic drought.